Mechanic School?

[Red Rock]

How does one look into becoming a bike mechanic? Is it better to go to the Park Tool School? Are there other schools outthere? Do most people do internships?

How does all this work? Any ideas?

Thankyou,
Red Rock

[DebW]

There are two professional schools in the country, to my knowledge: United Bicycle Institute in Ashland, OR, and Barnett Bicycle Institute in Colorado Springs. I believe Park Tool has a curriculum that is taught in various bike shops around the country, but not of the same professional level. I did the UBI 2-week course in 2008. Students range in age from 19 to 65 and in experience from nothing to several years in a bike shop. Those with no experience struggled, and those with moderate experience had a great time and really added to their knowledge base.

What is your background and experience? Are you looking for full time employment as a mechanic, or will this be a side-line or part-time career? If you're starting from ground-zero, taking a Park Tool course or whatever you can find locally would be a good start. You may find a bike shop willing to hire you and train you, but some shops only hire experienced mechanics.

[Red Rock]

DebW- I would be a beginner for sure. There are not any Park Tool Schools even in my town. Arrgh.

I was thinking out of the box, so I thought I would ask. I love my bike and cycling so much, I thought that this might be a possibility for full time work. Not only that I saw an opening for one of the local shops here in town needing a mechanic. So that is what got me thinking.

Red Rock

[DebW]

DebW- I would be a beginner for sure. There are not any Park Tool Schools even in my town. Arrgh.

I was thinking out of the box, so I thought I would ask. I love my bike and cycling so much, I thought that this might be a possibility for full time work. Not only that I saw an opening for one of the local shops here in town needing a mechanic. So that is what got me thinking.

Red Rock

Stores like REI offer bike maintenance classes. Or try asking at some local bike shops. Maybe you can find a mechanic willing to tutor you. Learning bike mechanics is fun and gives you the ability to do all your own bike work, so it's worthwhile even if you never get a job in a shop. But if you're thinking of this as a full-time career, consider carefully. Unless you own or manage a shop, work as a bike mechanic tends to be seasonal. The small shop I work in employs 3 mechanics from April to October, but otherwise the manager works alone. I have another part-time job, so that's OK for me. Large shops or shops frequented by racers may offer year-round work to some employees. In addition, the pay is pretty low, so deciding to be a full-time bike mechanic is a lifestyle choice (I guess that's the nice way to say you'll live like a college student your whole life). If your world revolves around bikes, that may be good for you. But think twice if you want disposable income. On the other hand, bike mechanics is a useful fall-back skill (I went back into it after 30 year in science when research funding started to dry up) and I love the work and extra income. I know another mechanic who gave up an engineering career to do bike work full time. She's managed to stay employed year-round but lives car-free.

[lunacycles]

Don't overlook UBI's one week basic mechanics course just for women held every year--usually in the summer when it is gorgeous in Ashland. It covers the same stuff as their other basic course, but is a friendlier atmosphere as far as feeling like a newbie goes. I tought it for a few years and it was always a blast.

UBI's web site is bikeschool.com

[Red Rock]

DebW and Lunacycles thankyou for your input and various answers. It is making me think twice about this. In the meantime, I will checkout some of the websites you all mentioned and go from there.

Red Rock